Patients and consent

The patient record holds a patient number, display name, birth date, contact phone and assigned clinician. Care Coordinator uses that record as the anchor for consent, device enrollment, encounters and follow-up. When a new person joins the program, check the identifier against the source roster before assigning care. A second patient record for the same person can split readings and encounter history between two charts.

Consent is purpose-specific. A signed document records its purpose, version, signed date and expiry date. Patient consent state gives the team a quick enrollment signal; the consent record holds the actual signed evidence. Before an encounter moves from scheduled to arrived, staff check the patient identity and a currently signed consent for the work at hand. A withdrawn or expired consent changes the next action even if an earlier encounter was completed.

• Identity. Care Coordinator maintains the patient number and contact details against the enrollment source.
• Permission to proceed. The consent record ties a versioned document and signature and expiry dates to the patient.
• Care responsibility. A care team assignment records a clinician, access purpose and effective period for the patient.

Decide which source supplies patient numbers and how staff resolve duplicate entries. Name the purposes used for consent, the document versions to retain, and the person who confirms signature and expiry. Define how a withdrawn consent reaches the assigned clinician before the next device capture or visit. The program also needs a clear rule for who creates and ends a care team assignment. Use the effective dates and recorded purpose so an old assignment cannot silently stand in for current access.

A small pilot can use a patient with active consent, one awaiting a signature and one whose consent has been withdrawn. Give each a named assigned clinician. The team should be able to explain, from the patient and consent records, which one may proceed to the next encounter and why. Review this with the actual people who will perform intake, rather than relying on a chart imported without its documents.

A patient has an assigned clinician and a device ready for enrollment, but the consent document is still pending. Care Coordinator checks the patient number, confirms the document purpose and obtains the signed version. Only then does Device Coordinator continue enrollment. If the signature is later withdrawn, the coordinator records that change and flags the upcoming encounter for review. The earlier consent record and completed encounter remain available for an authorized review; the new decision uses the current consent.

• Patients awaiting consent — Find patients whose enrollment still needs a consent decision.
• Signed consents — Check purpose, version, signed date and expiry before care proceeds.
• Active care assignments — See who holds the current patient and purpose assignment.

Continue with consent to encounter and device capture. Review the data model before importing the first patient roster.